BROOKLYN

OFF-DUTY OFFICER STABBED FOILING DOUGHNUT SHOP ROBBERY

An off-duty police officer was stabbed in the stomach after trying to apprehend a man who attempted to rob a Dunkin’ Donuts at knifepoint in Flatbush early yesterday morning.

The officer, Vincent Schiavarelli, had entered the shop on Empire Boulevard near Prospect Park about 6:30 a.m. when the man in front of him in line ordered a French cruller and then pulled a knife on the store’s cashier. He then slid across the counter and attempted to grab cash from an open register.

Surveillance cameras show the police officer attempting to apprehend the alleged robber, who stabbed the policeman in the lower abdomen and fled the store without any cash. Mr. Schiavarelli was in stable condition yesterday at Kings County Hospital.

The alleged robber, identified by police as Shron Killings, a 21-year-old with two prior arrests for weapons possession, fled in a red Kia sports utility vehicle, police officials said. He was still at large late yesterday.

The doughnut shop’s supervisor, Mohammed Uddin, said it was the second time this year the store has been robbed.

“It’s scary, really scary that somebody did this here,” Mr. Uddin said.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

UNITED NATIONS EYES GRAND CENTRAL SQUARE AS TEMPORARY OPTION

As the United Nations investigates temporary housing sites for use during a $1.2 billion renovation of its Turtle Bay headquarters, a source close to the search said the world body was considering a midtown Manhattan commercial complex as an option with particular promise.

S.L. Green Realty Corporation’ s Grand Central Square, a two-building development between 46th and 47th streets along Lexington and Third avenues, is among the sites being eyed by the United Nations now that legislators in Albany have thwarted the organization’s plans to erect a new structure on a city park just south of its campus.

The U.N.’s assistant secretary-general for central support services, Andrew Toh, said yesterday that Grand Central Square offers a “nice location,” but he said that for “market negotiating reasons,” the United Nations would not divulge further details regarding its real estate ambitions. The organization reportedly requires 700,000 square feet of contiguous office space during the five-year refurbishment project, set to begin in 2007.

The director of leasing for S.L. Green, Steven Durels, said that about two-thirds of the 935,000 square feet of rentable office space at Grand Central Square remains available, and that tenants would be able to move into the towers in January 2006.

– Special to the Sun

THE BRONX

WEINER ENDORSED BY ASSEMBLYMAN DINOWITZ

Though his mayoral campaign has said it has not actively sought endorsements, Rep. Anthony Weiner did not hesitate to announce the support yesterday from Jeffrey Dinowitz, a Democratic assemblyman from the Bronx.

The largest Democratic Club in the Bronx, the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, endorsed Mr. Weiner last month. Two weeks ago, Mr. Weiner received his first organized labor endorsement from the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, whose 45,000 members returned support Mr. Weiner had provided in the union’s fight to keep Wal-Mart from opening a store in Queens.

– Special to the Sun

COUNCIL HEARING WEIGHS FUTURE OF TERMINAL MARKET

Supporters talked about a “renaissance in the South Bronx” as critics raised questions about the future of current tenants and the details of the city’s deal to develop the Bronx Terminal Market at a joint committee hearing in the City Council yesterday.

The three Bronx council members on hand gave their support to the project, but former police officer and Council Member Hiram Monserrate, a Democrat of Queens, interrogated the president of the Economic Development Corporation, Andrew Alper, over the details of a deal he characterized as “curious.”

Mr. Alper said it was not the city’s right to open a bidding process because the city did not control the site – the previous owners, the Buntzman family, held a lease stretching to 2052. Daniel Doctoroff, the deputy mayor, contacted Related Companies in 2002 to ask if it would assess the site for future development. According to Mr. Alper, the Buntzman family and Related negotiated a private deal and then proposed it to the EDC. Mr. Alper warned that time is running out for the current market tenants who have not negotiated a deal with the city and have been handed eviction notices. Tenants are calling for a new market space, claiming that scattering the specialty wholesalers across the borough will hurt their businesses.

– Special to the Sun

QUEENS

BIOTERRORISM VACCINATION DRILL SLATED FOR TONIGHT

Volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses, and pharmacists from across the city will gather in Queens tonight for a drill to practice administering vaccinations, a procedure the group would perform on the spot in the event of a bioterrorism threat.

The four-hour drill provides a venue for New York City’s Medical Reserve Corps – a 3,000-person multidisciplinary group trained to mobilize in an emergency – to practice its lifesaving skills. It also tests the city’s ability to run larges-cale health clinics effectively, according to Isaac Weisfuse, the deputy commissioner for disease control at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Mr. Weisfuse said up to 400 volunteers will split into practitioner and patient roles. “I might be given script of pregnant woman or 5-year-old child or an elderly man with kidney disease. We make sure everyone is handled appropriately, then we sort of switch sides,” he said.

– Special to the Sun